Piano Illiterature - Volume 4:

2008.12.21 Systems Management (middle) - 23:03 - HiTEC 048

HiTEC, Histrionic Thought Experiment Cooperative, was an orchestra founded by myself (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) in July of 2008 that played 72 times before its demise in March of 2010. 60 of these times were rehearsals, 5 were classroom situations at the Mattress Factory & CMU, 1 was a special-focus recording session, & 6 were the main performances.

This 48th session was a 'Full Group' one in rehearsal for our premier performance at the New Hazlett Theater. The personnel were:

James Gyre: drum set
Joy: electric guitar w/ nylon strings
Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard
William Wedler: Experiment 1, percussion
Erok: trombone
Dani Simmonds: banjo-uke
Spat Cannon: acoustic bass
Julian Krishnamurti: electric bass
David Bernabo: melodica, percussion, homemade kracklebox made by dave kuzy
Jonathan Brodsky: monome
Johan Nystrom: extended percussion
Kenny Haney: bass clarinet
Ben Opie: tenor sax, thingamagoop (from kit)
Tony Balko: SM camcorder
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: grand piano

I write 'Full Group' in single quotes b/c probably only about 2/3rds of the group of the time actually attended the rehearsal. I include such a long excerpt from this session not so much b/c there's alotof prominent piano playing by me on it (I'm only heard sporadically) but b/c all of these HiTEC selections are taken from HiTEC report CD-Rs that I compiled to represent the progress of the orchestra & this selection gives a good sample of what we sounded like when we were playing a full session rather than just rehearsing an individual System.

At this point in our development we had 36 Systems that we Managed by following possibilities triggered by the spinning of a Wheel-of-Fortune & other cues.

2009.06.07 DICTATOR - 3:56 - HiTEC 058

Another HiTEC 'Full Group' rehearsal - this time shortly before our 2nd gig (at "The Nerve").

William Wedler: Experiment 1
Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard
Mike Kasunic: synthesizer
Julian Krishnamurti: electric bass, ukelele
Dani Simmonds: ukelele, krackle box, harmonica
Spat Cannon: acoustic bass
Josh Beyer: cello
Jonathan Brodsky: monome with mabalhabla software
Ben Harris: violin
Kenny Haney: Bb clarinet
Hyla Willis: erhu, percussion, voice
Ben Opie: alto clarinet, C-Melody sax, grand piano, recorder
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: grand piano, electronics

The instructions for Ben Opie's "DICTATOR" are:

"DICTATOR is an unnumbered system. One time per performance only, a single player may choose to become a DICTATOR. This happens when the player walks to the center (if possible) or otherwise calls attn to themselves thru waving their arms & begins conducting everyone using gestures & non-word sounds OR Managing SOLO.

"Dictatorship ends when either (a) the Dictator steps down willingly by spinning the WoF, or (b) the group as a whole stands and "deposes" the Dictator. In either case, the former Dictator must remain completely inactive for the next two systems."

& the DICTATOR was Dani Simmonds.

2009.08.02 Brain-In-A-Vat - 6:09 - HiTEC 060

HiTEC's basis in Thought Experiments (rather than musical intention) is clearest w/ such Systems as "Brain-In-A-Vat":

""Brain-In-A-Vat"(Descartes / tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE):

Decide that you're a brain-in-a-vat instead of a brain-in-a-skull & that your perceptions of what's happening in the current Systems Management session are programmed perceptions rather than 'real' ones. Adapt yr Management to what you then think is the most likely 'reality'."

James Gyre: drum set [left slightly early]
joy toujours: trombone
Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard
Josh Beyer: Baribanjolo
Red Bob Jungkunz: drums
Ben Harris: violin
Ben Opie: alto sax
Kenny Haney: clarinets
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: grand piano

2010.02.21 Persisting Resisting - 3:51 - HiTEC 069

"Persisting Resisting"(tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE):

Play in accordance w/ a system w/o telling the other player(s) what the system is. If you make a mistake, either stop playing & stay stopped until everyone else is done OR play according to a 2nd system for a 'satisfactory' length of time. What constitutes 'satisfactory' is determined by yr own criteria. Then return to the 1st system UNLESS you make a mistake during the 2nd system in wch case a 3rd system is to be followed for a 'satisfactory' length of time - after wch the 2nd system is reverted to UNLESS.. etc, etc.. From each system one either moves one system forward or one backward. If a player thinks another player has stopped they can end but they cannot restart (even if they're wrong about the other player stopping).

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: grand piano, percussion
William Wedler: percussion
joy toujours: violin
Spat Cannon: acoustic bass
Julian Krishnamurti: electric bass
Gina Ketter: 5 string electric violin
Bob Jungkunz: percussion
Kerrith Livengood: alto flute
Jonathan Brodsky: laptop
Spencer Diaz: camcorder
Kenny Haney: bass clarinet
Ben Opie: soprano sax

2010.02.28a DICTATOR - 3:16 - HiTEC 070

See the notes to Track 2. The DICTATOR is tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE.

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: grand piano, percussion
Spat Cannon: acoustic bass
Unfinished Symphonies: recorders
Hyla Willis: erhu
Spencer Diaz: camcorder
Bob Jungkunz: percussion
Kenny Haney: bass clarinet
Ben Opie: Max patches on laptop, percussion

2010.02.28b Population Control - 3:34 - HiTEC 070

See the personnel listing for the preceding track.

"Population Control" (Johan Nystrom):

Only 1/5th of the Systems Managers shd play at one time (except that this number shd be no less than 2). Players shd try to accomplish this purely by paying attn to each other rather than thru hand-signals, glances, & other obvious means. EG: someone who's playing shd decide to drop out & someone who's not playing shd fill in the gap. If more than 1 player replaces 1 drop-out then an(other) player(s) shd also drop out to restabilize the relevant number. If too many players become active then some shd decide to stop on their own to correct this. This ends whenever other factors, such as a spin of the WoF, occur to interrupt it.

2010.03.13a Patterns - 2:18 - HiTEC 072

This, & the next 2 tracks, is from HiTEC's final Systems Management at Kresge Hall on the CMU campus.

"Patterns" (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE)

Create a pattern & play it 3 times. Create another DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT pattern & play that 3 times. Either stop playing after you've run out of dramatically different ideas OR after a minimum of 5 patterns.

tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: grand piano, percussion, remote-control electronics, SysMan, Wheel-of-Fortune
Julian Krishnamurti: electric bass
Spat Cannon: acoustic bass
Ben Opie: alto sax, Thingamagoop, Max patches on laptop, rattle
Hyla Willis: amplified erhu
Kenny Haney: bass clarinet, Bb clarinet
Tony Balko: camcorder
Jonathan Brodsky: laptop
David Bernabo: melodica, percussion
Kerrith Livengood: alto flute, percussion
Bob Jungkunz: percussion
William Wedler: percussion
joy toujours: violin
Unfinished Symphonies: electronic keyboard
Gina Ketter: viola
Spencer Diaz: camcorder

2010.03.13b Brain-In-A-Vat + ? - 5:31 - HiTEC 072

See the personnel listing for Track 7.

See the Systems notes to Track 3.

2010.03.13c DICTATOR - 2:51 - HiTEC 072

See the personnel listing for Track 7.

See the notes to Track 2. The DICTATOR is Ben Opie.

The 72nd & last HiTEC session was our public presentation at the
Kresge Recital Hall at the CFA (Center for Fine Arts) at CMU
(Carnegie Mellon University) on Saturday, March 13, 2010.
Here's the "Sheepdog" portion of the raw Hi-Def footage shot by
Morgan Cahn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oYIc09Zxk4

An excerpt from the edited version of HiTEC's FINAL GIG
that includes "Infinite Monkey Theorem", 'SOMNAMBULIST", "Saboteur",
"Bypass", "Birds", & "Affinity Groups" (+ 1 typo - can you find it?) is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2jILMegKug

2010.10.30 NARRATIVE - 21:48 - tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

My composer friends Sarmad Brody & Franz Kamin died in a car crash in St Paul in the spring of 2010. A Halloween concert in Franz's honor was held in St Paul at the Friend's Meeting Hall on October 30th in 2010. An edited movie of this event can be witnessed broken into 2 parts here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBtLvHnmR1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhucELYuzkM

"NARRATIVE" grew out of my editing together footage from multitudinous playings of HiTEC's "Infinite Monkey Theorem". An excerpt from the performance of it recorded here can be witnessed in movie form in the above-linked movie. My piano playing is both live & prerecorded.

"Infinite Monkey Theorem"(Aristotle / tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE):

Perform isolated notes in an attempt to be 'random' in relation to yr fellow Systems Managers. Stop playing when you're fairly sure you hear a combination that you've heard before - such as a fragment of Mozart or whatever.

An examination of "Infinite Monkey Theorem":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBCrl5L8stQ

This was the 2nd performance of "NARRATIVE", the 1st having been at Naropa University in Boulder earlier in October. An edited version of the full presentation that includes an excerpt from this can be witnessed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2puiVTPGYU

- July 20, 2011 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE

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